DENVER – Colorado’s Health Care Future (COHCF) submitted a public comment to the state’s Division of Insurance (DOI) around a public rulemaking hearing held by DOI regarding the Colorado Option this week.

Read COHCF’s comment below:

Dear Commissioner Conway:

We appreciate the opportunity to express our serious concerns regarding the negative consequences of the Colorado Option. Colorado’s Health Care Future (COHCF) believes every Coloradan deserves access to affordable, high-quality health coverage and care, but it is clear that this new government-controlled health insurance system brings Colorado further away from that important goal.

Those who campaigned for the Colorado Option’s passage assured Coloradans it would make health coverage more affordable. However, not only is the Colorado Option falling short of this promise, its real-life consequences are the opposite of what its supporters promised.

For the 2024 plan year, health insurance premiums for Coloradans are set to rise by an average of 10% across individual market plans. This increase includes the majority of Colorado Option plans and follows a similar double-digit increase in the cost of coverage from the 2022 to the 2023 plan years.

Not only are Coloradans facing higher premiums under the Colorado Option, they also have fewer coverage choices than before. Since the Colorado Option was implemented, four health insurance providers have withdrawn from Colorado’s individual market, small group market, or both, reducing competition and limiting the health plans from which consumers can choose.

The higher consumer costs and diminished competition in the state’s coverage market are underscored by the findings of an analysis performed by NovaRest, an independent actuarial firm whom COHCF engaged due to their extensive experience supporting state and federal insurance regulators. Among other findings, the actuaries at NovaRest found that the Colorado Option is not the lowest premium plan for consumers in most Colorado counties.

The reality of higher prices and reduced competition stands in stark contrast to the promises made by policymakers in enacting the Colorado Option.

Yet despite these facts, the Colorado Department of Insurance (DOI) has consistently portrayed the Colorado Option as a success, deliberately conflating it with the state’s reinsurance program, among other misleading marketing tactics.

Simultaneously, the DOI has withheld important data from the public, failing to share their comprehensive analysis of final 2024 rates for all individual and small group plans, including Colorado Option plans.

The DOI should share this data in its entirety, including by county, metal tier, and carrier. In doing so, DOI should highlight year-over-year premium changes on a percentage basis, along with the percentage of Colorado Option plans compliant with the law’s premium reduction mandates. Coloradans deserve access to this information so they can better assess the true consequences of this new state government-controlled health insurance system.

The bottom line is this: In the 2024 plan year, the Colorado Option is once again failing to deliver the lower prices that were promised to Coloradans. Instead, premiums are going up for many consumers as the Colorado Option causes distortions in Colorado’s health coverage markets.

Colorado’s Health Care Future remains committed to ensuring every Coloradan has access to affordable, high-quality health coverage and care. We encourage the State of Colorado to finally accept the fact that affordable health coverage will not be achieved through price controls such as those imposed via the Colorado Option, but rather by encouraging a healthy, competitive health coverage marketplace.

Instead of endlessly pushing ahead with the failing Colorado Option, policymakers should work together toward proven solutions that build on successful aspects of our current healthcare system to deliver greater health care affordability and access for Coloradans.

We appreciate the opportunity to share our concerns and thank you for your attention to this vital issue.